THREE YEARS AGO, Lee McMonagle scored a goal that turned the 2012 Donegal SFC final in St Eunan’s favour.
St Eunan’s were trailing when McMonagle fired past Stephen McGrath, the Naomh Conaill goalkeeper. Daragh Gallagher did level things up for the Glenties team, but Mark McGowan’s late ’45 won the day for Eunan’s.
McMonagle was just 18 in the 2012 decider. Without his goal, St Eunan’s would have fallen to a defeat, but his three-point was the score that broke Naomh Conaill.
Last year, the sum total of McMonagle’s involvement in the Championship was a six-minute appearance at the end of St Eunan’s group game with Naomh Muire.
He took time away for the seniors, but has returned with a bang this year, having nothced up 4-6 so far as the black and amber look forward to another final – again against Naomh Conaill.
McMonagle was the captain of the Eunan’s Under-21 side that won the Donegal Championship last December courtesy of a dramatic 3-12 to 1-15 win over Kilcar in Convoy.
“I was away from the seniors, but I was never really away completely,” said McMonagle.
“I played away with the Under-21s and that gave me the energy to come back. Thankfully I’m going alright again and it’s good to be back. It makes it more enjoyable when you’re winning games.
“County finals are the stuff you dream of growing up playing for the club.
“Everyone around the place is buzzing, but we know it’ll be a difficult challenge so we’ll get the heads down and prepare as best we can.”
McMonagle has been in goalscoring form of late, with his strike on Saturday night steering Eunan’s clear of St Michael’s. That came after a 2-1 haul against Glenswilly in the quarter-final.
“The goal pulled away and it gave us a bit of leeway,” he said of his strike at the weekend.
“St Michael’s had to go and chase the game after that. The second goal came when they were chasing.”
Conor Parke registered the second St Eunan’s goal with a majestic lobbed effort over the head of Mark Anthony McGinley, the St Michael’s goalkeeper.
“When you see Parkey coming up like that, you just get out of his way – he’d go through a brick wall to score a goal and he’s always good for a score,” McMonagle said.
McMonagle and McGinley had a battle of verbals all evening in Ballybofey and the St Eunan’s attacker took delight in showing his glee to the St Michael’s number 1 after his goal.
While St Michael’s had good spells at the beginning of both halves, patient St Eunan’s never looked uneasy.
“We knew coming into it that it’d be a huge battle, but we were ready for it,” McMonagle said.
“It took us a while to settle at the start and it was the same at the start of the second half. We’re slow starters, but once we got going we got a grip of the game.
“We know that we have the talent in the squad. Boys there have been around for so long and with that experience behind us it wouldn’t faze us if we were behind by a big score. We always have the ability to come back.”
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